This always comes up among other musicians that I know and play with. It is always an issue with diehard Prince fans that I know as well. Everyone has their very clear cut reasons WHY they feel one is better than the other. So, I ask the question here; Which album do you feel is the better album? 1999 or Purple Rain?

yikes
Purple rain is the one that really got me into Prince. really like the guitar on it, it has my favorite prince song(The beautiful ones) The only song thats even close to weak is take me with u

But on the other hand i love 1999 as well. back in the day i simply wore out record number 1, but now its the rest of the record that kills me. Automatic is one of those songs that just suddenly clicked 10+ years later

Today I'll go with 1999, but with those two it can change daily

I would have to say hands down 1999 was the better of the two. The things he did on that album are so amazing, and him even being the true genius he is, has not been able to quite capture that same vibe with any of his recent albums as he did with 1999. That album takes you on a musical road trip. First starting with a little rock(1999,Little Red Corvette), then going on to funk(DMSR,Lady Cab Driver) then finally ending with a litttle R and B(International Lover).Out of all his material, this is truly the only one that I havent got bored with. Not to mention how sexy he looked on the inside album sleeve(god I miss those days)!
[Edited 8/16/05 15:50pm]

blackguitaristz said:

As far as pushing the envelope and breaking the mold,"Dirty Mind"is a killer album.It is raw and bold and very unexpected from an R&B artist.But as a fan and an Electronica producer,I think "1999"is his masterpiece.Sonically and visually,it is a complete concept album.I sometimes wish that "1999"would have been his movie debut.It may not have been as successful as "Purple Rain",but try to imagine what the "Lady CabDriver"scene might have been like.

I love both of them diffrently. Um.... Purple Rain I love The Beutiful Ones, When Doves Cry of course, those R my favorite on the album. Being a musician writer also I love the musicianship and lyrics. As a singer, The Beutiful Ones's passion in his voice.

1999 is just fun and excitin'. The song I always listen R Something In The Water, Free, International Lover is great the whole concept. This is the album that put Prince on the map basically and so 2 speak put him in the mainstream.
I listen 2 my 1999 more then my Purple Rain. I like both but 1999 is my favorite.

1999 is more experimental but purple rain is far more fully realized. i feel like one is the blueprint, the other is the finished product. i like PR more, but there's absolutely no way it could have happened without 1999 happening first - and don't get me wrong, i love 1999 to death, and these days, probably play it much more than PR.

1999 is my favorite album. I love every song on it especially D.M.S.R.

Tough tough and tough. I love them both but for once I'm giving it to 1999. The freshness in the music and experimentation is just killer. I love PR but as of today it 1999. Ask me tomorrow.

"1999" is Prince at his nasty futuristic BEST. "Purple Rain" is good but I like "1999" better because it had more funk on it.

Anxiety said:

agree....

Only I think that 'Controversy' was the actually blueprint to that hard-driven, funky sound it produce....

1999 was the commercial break-thru
yet, experimental at the same time...

'LadyCabDriver' was the absolute jam.....

'Purple Rain' was the icing without losing its edge!!!!

'When Doves Cry' is a masterpiece....

My choice????

Dang!!! I don't know....

To me, it seems like each album progressed more and more as they led up to "1999". I can hear the synthesizers from the very first album on "Just As Long As We're Together" and on the extended part on "I Wanna Be Your Lover" on the second album. The first time I ever heard the 12 Inch version of "Sexy Dancer" was a few years ago and, when the song breaks down in that version, it sounds more like 1982 rather than 1979. It actually sounds more like a song for The Time rather than a Prince song. Then the synths come much more noticeable on "Dirty Mind" and "Controversy". With "1999", he just did it up completely and worked it.

Prince had been a huge star in the R&B world for years but "Little Red Corvette" from the "1999" album was the pop world's first real introduction to Prince, other than "I Wanna Be Your Lover" during the disco era, which most of them forgot. "Purple Rain" is a very strong album but it sounds like it was intentionally weakened a little (especially by not including a hardcore funk jam like "Erotic City") to keep the new-found pop world's interest, especially since he had his first movie coming out.

This is a hard decision, but I have to give it to 1999, even though it was a little self-indulgent, strained, and experimental. Purple Rain was kinda like his first trends in doing psychedelia rock and pop (in which he experimented and went further with in records like Around The World In A Day, Parade, and even Sign O The Times), but it was the perfect example of making a solid, tight, and "easy-to-listen-to-without-skipping" pop record. 1999, on tha other hand, was a "screw you" record, just like Dirty Mind, but the production, sound, craftmanship, and substance was fresh and new and it wasn't a sound-like record like Controversy was. The two things I didn't like about 1999 was that (A)- Prince played more synthesizers than guitars and (B)- it was his first sign of using self-indulgence in his albums. But I'm not being negative toward both 1999 and Purple Rain because they are two of most essential records and they're among one of my favorite recordings. I love em both!!!

1999- a fun poppy record

Purple Rain - a rock classic!!

'1999' is the superior album.It's more experimental...with dirtier lyrics (lol) and longer songs....and it has funk tracks on it.I love 'Purple Rain',but it's basically just a rock/pop album.There isn't much funk there.

CleopatraJones said:

thats a good reason and i wanna steal it..

1999 is the album you put on when your BLUE, HAPPY and Sexy.. it works for all occasions and it brings you out of sadness and you forget what you were sad about in the first place..

i like 1999 because of the whole vibe of the record. the drum machines and the synths the album is so well produced and all the songs are so diffrent yet there is the link of the dums n snyths throughout.

i like purple rain because of the guitar work coupled with the movie. when doves cry is such a great song, from the lyrics to the drum pattern and that famous synth line. and purple rain has gone down forever as a classic.

which one do i like best? damn thats a hard one.

i would have to go with 1999, as i feel it is more princey than purple rain. 1999 was made from scratch with prince going into the studio and recording and playing what he wanted to. on the other hand, with purple rain, the songs were kinda written with a purpose. they were deliberatly more commercial. i can't help but feel purple rain could have been better if it wasn't restricted by the film.

both amazing albums, especially as you consider they were recorded consecutively. but i think 1999 edges it. just.

my real contradiction about what´s Prince best album is between 1999 and SOTT. I do love Purple Rain but if the Judment day comes probably I will chose 1999.

Damn, as always, everyone takes the words out of my mouth. But I have to go with what Anxiety says.

Purple Rain is a masterpiece and definitely one of his most 'complete' albums. You could give this to virtually anyone and - unless they're without a musical bone in their body - I fail to see how they'd be impressed. It deserves every single ounce of respect it gets. Not one wasted note found here.

1999... now if you'd asked me this even only two years ago I would've gone with 'Purple Rain'. I could see why everyone loved 1999 so much, I could understand where they were coming from, but I just didn't 'feel' it. I'd never given it a proper listen, I guess. And there's nothing more frustrating than seeing everyone drooling over something which you can't quite grasp.

Anyway, I had the album for ten whole years, pulled it out every so often, tried to give it a chance but it still wouldn't hit the spot. Then, one day - BANG! The funk hit me. I have no explanation for it - good things come to those who wait, I suppose. Since then, it's become one of my all-time favourite albums. Not just in the Prince canon but in my entire collection.

1999 contains every single facet of Prince perfectly condensed into 11 tracks. It touches every single base. Again, not one single note is wasted - hard to achieve on a standard length album; damn near impossible on a double-album. But Prince manages it. And the fact that he did this single-handedly (give or take the odd assistance):

Purple Rain is a must-have for all music lovers; 1999 is a must-have for all Prince fans. I love both to absolute death but, today, 1999 gets my vote.

Ummhmm,... interesting.

blackguitaristz said:

So BG - which side of the fence do you stand on?
[Edited 8/17/05 8:02am]

purple rain is surely no. 1, no slight on 1999 but I don't think anything else could ever capture the magic of that album, a testimony to that is how many people were turned onto Prince just because they heard purple rain. It never gets boring ever - it's just The Best.

onenitealone said:

I was wondering when somebody was going to ask me that. Oh well.., without a doubt, the 1999 album, to me, is the superior of the two. This is coming from someone who has been more than hip to Prince from day one. I saw P in concert early on in his career, before the 1999 album. I, as much as anyone, maybe more than most, championed Prince during Purple Rain. As a guitarist, I was and am VERY influenced by Hendrix and Santana and Funkadelic. As a kid, that's one of the things that drew me to Prince in the first place. I was so happy that a black man, at that time, was doing that. Purple Rain, to me, what it represented, was and is, paramount. It's basically a tribute to Jimi and Sly & The Family Stone. Musically, in theme, and certainly, visually. The vibe of it influenced me greatly as a kid. BUT, the songs, the daring, innovative funk/rock of so much of the material on 1999, is on another level than Purple Rain. The songs on Purple Rain have more of what I call, a "pop sensibility". They're more pop oriented. "Take Me With U" & "I Would Die 4 U". Even though P has a masterpiece on there in "When Doves Cry". But the sheer brilliance of the 1999 album, to me, without question, has Prince's best playing, his best singing and his best songwriting, between the two albums.

blackguitaristz said:

WOW.


That's all I can say.



BG, you always put things so beautifully. And I love reading the old skool fans' comments. It's interesting, to me, to see why Prince would mean so much to you during the Purple Rain era, and not just from a musical perspective. Damn, I wish I'd experienced that.

I think you're spot on re: your 1999 comments.

Purple Rain

I agree with the points about 1999; I'd pick that one, because of the innovation. That certainly takes nothing away from the brilliance of Purple Rain, but PR was done with a broader commercial purpose in mind...1999 certainly had Pop appeal, but it was more insular, with a darker, funkier edge...




...

onenitealone said:

Thank u for that. That's very nice of you and generous as well. Thanx.

I'm glad that some of u posted. I understand that a lot of folks on here WERE NOT fans of Prince during this time. Either they were too young or they just weren't having it. A lot of folks came on board during 87-88, the last period of when Prince was REALLY Prince. Point being, these two albums will always be the two albums that MADE Prince. The perception, the rumours, this image, his screams, his guitar playing, the splits, the slides, all of that, was with THESE two albums. They were realized and shown to the world during these two albums. Everything that P is most known for, CAME during the period of these two albums. Did P do some of these things before and after these two albums? Sure he did. But before 1999, P was still finding his way. Finding his way to hit on a global scale with his unique brand. With Controversy, he was somewhat known, but had more of what u may call a "cult" following. After Purple Rain, tons of folks jumped on the bandwagon and some are still riding on it today. That's cool. I'm glad that u all that posted, showed that you're hip to where P came from and that your comments are valid as hell.

blackguitaristz said:

For the Jimi & Sly tribute.....

I always said that Prince & The Revolution, was the 80's Sly & The Family Stone....

Black , as always you're on point...

Purple Rain. I can listen to the ablum without skipping a few tracks, like I do with 1999.